Tiny Wings and Things
by Aibohp
Summary: Out of nowhere Castiel drops in and leaves Dean and Sam with a little girl, telling her to keep her safe. How are the boys going to take care of a little kid and is there more to this girl than what meets the eye?
1. Chapter 1

A/n: First! This is going to be a short story. Second, I'm not using the 'horizontal ruler' for a line break. Line breaks will be song titles. They will probably have nothing in common except for the fact that I like them.

**-Maxwell's Silver Hammer-**

All is silent, save for the sounds of keys being tapped and the occasional car that drives by the motel. Dean is cleaning his guns and Sam is doing research on his laptop, attempting to find their next hunt. The silence is broken by the _swoosh_ that has recently become the only warning that they get before Castiel appears in the room, sometimes only inches away from either young man's face. Though, the angel is been getting better when it comes to the whole 'personal space issue'.

"Hey, Cas," Dean says without looking up, a smile on his face. Visits from Cas are usually interesting, Besides that the angel is fun to tease sometimes.

"Dean, I need your help."

The hunter looks up, a somewhat confused and worried look on his face and what he sees startles him. He can see why the Angle would need help. It isn't often to see Castiel really look like he's been hurt but there is a little blood dripping from his mouth and he looks more ruffled than usual. There is a bruise forming on his jaw and he actually looks panicked, another rarity, the angel so openly showing emotion. Surprisingly the last thing that Dean notices it the somewhat large bundle that is in man's arms.

"What happened to you, Cas?" Sam asks, getting up from his seat and moving closer to see how badly the angel is hurt.

"And what is that?" Dean questioned, standing up as well and moving closer to see what is in his friend's arms.

He didn't expect for Castiel to rush forward and shove what he was holding into his arms. Dean almost drops the bundle in surprise and then again when he realizes he's holding a young child in his arms. He looks up at Cas in surprise.

"What the hell, Cas? What are you, now? Peter Pan?" he asks, looking back down at the child. She's either asleep or unconscious.

"Just keep her safe, Dean. I have no time to explain."

"Hey, wait-"

But before Dean can protest the angel is gone and he's left holding the child, his mouth agape.

"That son of a bitch!" yells the eldest Winchester.

"Did he really just leave us with a kid?" Sam asks, leaning over Dean's shoulder and looking down at the child's face.

She has dark brown hair walls in curling waves down past her shoulders. Long lashes brush her soft, round lightly freckled cheeks. Her nose is slightly upturned and she is breathing evenly as she lay in Dean's arms, not showing any sign of coming to anytime soon. With a sigh Dean moves over to Sam's bed and lays the girl down. The white cloth she was wrapped in now appears to be a dress, one that is far too big for her.

"We're going to need to get her clothes," Dean says, looking down at her and cocking his head t to the side. The little girl looks to be about eight years old.

"What are you talking about? Dean we can't take care of a kid!" Sam exclaims, looking at his brother in shock. As he watches as the man grabs a pillow and pull the case off.

Dean takes up one of his knives and cuts through the seam of the pillow then looks up at Sam, head tilted to the side.

"Get me a needle and dental floss," he orders, not replying to his brother's statement from before.

Sam just stares at Dean for a second then goes to his duffle bag and fishes around in their first aid kit until he finds the requested Items. He takes them To Dean who is now sitting the girl up and working her out of the too big dress. He slides the pillow case onto her lower body and then takes the needle and floss.

"What are you doing?"

Dean gathers the cloth around the girl's waist until it's snuggly hugging her body, then he start to sew the pinched piece of cloth so that the pillow case will stay tight around the girl. Once he gets that done he gets up and pulls a shirt out of his bag and comes back, sitting the girl up he puts it on her and lays her down again.

"I am MacGyvering a skirt out of a pillow case for her because you can't take a kid to get clothes naked because we are going to be taking care of her because we can't just leave her here and because Cas asked us to keep her safe. So sit down and shut up because she is staying whether you like it or not."

Sam is silent for a moment and moves to sit down in front of his laptop.

"So how did you learn to sew clothes?"

Dean flushed and moved back to his bed to finish cleaning his guns while the girl slept.

"I occasionally had to alter clothes for your freakishly large ass when we were growing up," he retorted, making Sam laugh quietly.

**-Sugar Magnolia-**

"Alright I'm not buying her anything from here," Dean stated, glaring around the Good Will suspiciously.

Sam lifted his head from where he was looking at a rack of clothes and cocked his head to the side.

"Why not? We wore clothes from good will when we were her age," the young man said, picking up a white, long sleeved shirt with little flowers across the chest.

Dean just screwed up is face a bit and hugged the little girl closer. She was quiet and just held onto Dean, her head resting on his shoulder and arms around his neck as she sat in his arms. The boys had discovered upon her waking that she had big dark brown eyes and was very quiet. She hadn't uttered a word since she woke up.

"Dude, the employees here are handling the stuff with rubber gloves. Why the hell are they handling the merchandise with rubber gloves if there isn't something wrong with it?" he hissed, looking down at the children's clothes accusingly as if they had wronged him in some way.

Dean has been surprising Sam ever since Cas dropped the little girl off with them.

First it was the making a skirt out of a pillowcase and putting her in one of his shirts. Then, as soon as she woke up and Dean looked into her big brown eyes, he seemed to be very completely taken with her. Sam doesn't think that her feet have touched the ground since Castiel handed her over. The man has never thought of his brother as someone who would be that great at taking care of children but Dean seems to have taken to it like a duck to water and is thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Can we just go to Wal*Mart and get her something?" Dean asks, reaching up to push a lock of the girl's hair behind her ear when it falls into her face. She smiles softly and the one that Dean gives her in return lights up his face.

"You don't even like Wal*Mart!" Sam exclaims, only earning a glare from Dean. With a sigh the younger of the two slumps and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Fine! Let's go to Wal*Mart!" he says, shaking his head and leading the way out of the Goodwill.

Dean just follows with a smug look on his face.

"After we get you some decent clothes we'll get you something to eat, kay?" he says quietly to the girl. She doesn't say anything but just smiles and nods, wrapping her arms around Dean's neck and burying her face in his shoulder.

The man smiles and runs his hand over her back and when Sam looks back at them even he has to admit that she looks cute in the too-big Metallica shirt and her pillowcase skirt. The younger man sighs and shakes his head, reminding himself that there is really no way that they can keep her with them. They'll just have to leave her with Bobby or something.

They get back out to the Impala and Dean takes the girl to the backseat, buckling her into her seat and lightly tapping the top of her nose and making her giggle before he moves to get behind the wheel. Sam slides in on the other side of the car and when his brother looks at him it's like Dean can read his mind because he narrows his eyes and points accusingly at Sam.

"Wipe off the bitch face, Sammy. We're keeping her."

Sometimes Sam wonders about Dean.

**-One-**

A/n: Songs used as line breaks are: Maxwell's Silver Hammer, by The Beatles. Sugar Magnolia, by The Grateful Dead. One, by Metallica.


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: Next chapter... That's... That's really it... I just felt that I needed to have an author's note. .

**-Sugar-**

After a trip to Wal*Mart and another to a small Diner, where Sam learned that small children are a great way to attract the attention of pretty waitresses and old ladies, the little girl is once again sleeping. This time she is in the back of the Impala, dressed in a pair of jeans and Dean's shirt. She seems to have taken a liking to it and Dean thinks that it is cute so he doesn't make her take it off. The little girl has her arms wrapped around a stuffed cow that looks to be about as big as she is and one Winchester is grinning like a fool while the other stares out a window, practicing his brand new bitch face.

It isn't that Sam doesn't want to help the girl. He just thinks that she would be safer somewhere else… away from them and all the demons and angels chasing trying to chase them down so that they can bring to the world to a smoldering, zombie infested end.

"I still just don't see how you think that us keeping her with us is a good idea," Sam says for what Dean is sure the hundredth time in the past hour.

"I never said it was a good idea, Sam. But she needs someone and Cas wants us to take care of her. And I never rejected your idea to take her to Bobby's… I just didn't say we were going to leave her here alone. Besides, can you think of a place that is safer than Bobby's?" Dean asks, smiling again.

"That isn't the point! We don't know how to take care of a little girl! We don't even know her name or anything about her! She won't talk!" Sam said, his voice rising until Dean reached over and popped the back of his head.

"Shhh! She is asleep, keep your voice down! We can take care of her just fine and she'll talk when she's ready. She just got dumped into the laps of two strangers, who even knows what happened to her parents! It's normal that she might not want to talk. She will when she's ready!"

Dean firmly defends his decision to keep the little girl, leaving no room for debate. Sam growls quietly in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest before he goes back to glaring out the window.

It is a very long and quite ride to Souix Falls.

**-Son of a Preacher Man-**

When they finally arrive at Bobby's Sam is the one sleeping and the girl is awake. She's crawled up into the front seat, sitting between the brothers. Dean is still smiling and the girl is wondering how he can keep it up for so long. Feeling her gaze on his face the man looks down at her when he parks the car. It's late, sun having gone down long ago. The arm that he has draped over the little girl's shoulders squeezes her and she smiles, giggling quietly.

"Ah! You're a daddy's girl, aren't you?" Dean asks, giving the girl another squeeze before he opens his door to get out. "Wake up your mother while I get our stuff out of the back," Dean says teasingly.

The little girl just giggles more and looks up at Sam who is leaning heavily on the door. Gently the girl undoes his seat belt, then leans over him and opens the car door. Sam falls out and hits the ground with a thump and a yelp. He's on his feet in an instant, though, looking around, startled and confused. The laughter from inside the car catches his attention, though and he leans down and peers in on a giggling girl and his chortling brother.

"You little brat!" Sam says, grabbing the girl's ankle and pulling her out of the car. Of course he can't really hurt the kid so he settles on scooping her up and tickling her, making her squeal until she wriggles out of his arms and runs up the steps and onto Bobby's porch.

"I love that kid," Dean says, chuckling as he gives Sam his duffle, holding his own and a smaller pink one in his other hand. "I'll have to ask her to wake you up more often."

Sam grumbled something about brats and boys who never grow up but he couldn't help but smile some.

The lights in the house are already on by now and when the door behind the little girl opens up to reveal a somewhat annoyed Bobby she lets out a small squeak. The sound startles the older man and he looks down at her in astonishment. Then he looks up to Sam and Dean and groans.

"Damn it, Dean!"

The eldest brother pauses on the stairs, looking taken aback for a moment. This gets Sam laughing loudly.

"What did I do?" Dean asks, sounding confused and hurt by the accusations.

"Well it looks like you knocked some girl up and the girl tracked ya down then left ya with a kid!" Bobby growls, making Sam laugh even harder and Dean pout. "Just get in here ya idjits…"

The man stalked back into his house, followed by Sam who was followed by Dean who paused to pick up the girl, resting her on his hip. The man followed both Bobby and Sam into the kitchen and sat down, moving the girl to his lap and dropping both the bags he was holding onto the ground so he could wrap his arms around his new, tiny friend.

"I didn't knock anyone up and even if I did they haven't found me yet. Cas brought her to us and asked us to keep her safe," Dean says smiling as the girl leans back on him and rests her head against his shoulder.

Sam shook his head and went to the fridge, getting himself a beer.

"Ooo! Get me one!" Dean says, shifting the girl onto his chair and getting up to retrieve his own beer from his brother's hand. He pops the cap off on the kitchen counter then leans into the fridge himself and starts poking around.

Bobby looks down at the girl who is staring up at him. Sam watches the little staring contest from across the kitchen. Surprisingly, to Sam, Bobby is the one who looks away first, turning to dean who is investigating a package of hotdogs. Eventually the young man shrugs and pulls a couple out of the pack and then tosses them in the microwave.

"So what's her name?" Bobby asks, watching as Dean went back to the fridge to poke around some more.

"Dunno. She hasn't said a word since we came to be in possession of her," Dean says, getting out the mustard and ketchup. "Come show me what you want on your hotdogs," he says to the girl who slides off the chair and then goes to the fridge.

Along with the mustard and ketchup she reaches in and grabs an onion and what appears to be a bowl of cold chilly. Dean laughs and reaches out to ruffle up her hair.

"My kinda girl! If I was twenty years younger I'd marry you," he says making the girl giggle.

"I don't think that two eight year olds can run off and get married, Dean…" Sam points out. The older sibling sniffs and kicks the fridge door shut.

"You're just mad because she likes me more," Dean replies, taking the hotdogs out of the microwave when the timer goes off.

While Dean goes about fixing up a hotdog or two for the little lady Bobby shakes his head, wondering how the two boys always managed to end up in the strangest of messes. But he can't help but smile as the girl presses herself close to Dean's side, her arm wrapping around his leg and head resting on his hip. Sam watches his brother smile and pet the girl's head.

"You know she should be in bed by now," Sam says, when Dean hands the girl her hotdog, keeping the other one for himself, apparently.

"She'll get to bed but she hasn't eaten since lunch," The man says, pouting a little bit and taking a bite of his hotdog then quickly chomping the rest of it down. It is a wonder that he hasn't choked to death considering how he eats.

"And what's your excuse?" Sam asks, perking a brow. Dean just snorts.

"I don't need an excuse. I just like hotdogs…" he replies after he swallows his food and before he takes a drink of beer.

The little girl takes a bit longer to finish eating but when she does Dean scoops her up and grabs her bag off the floor where she dropped it. She wraps her arms around Dean's neck and holds on as the man heads up the stairs.

"Alright, now we're going to get you ready for bed, yeah? Maybe you'll feel like talking tomorrow," he said softly, resting her head on his when she dropped her own on his shoulder. Both Sam and Bobby watch the two silently.

"I don't know what Dean is thinking… We don't know anything about taking care of little kids how can we keep her?" Sam asks Bobby when Dean is out of earshot.

The older man snorts and shakes his head at Sam, head tilting to the side as he studies him for a moment. He stands up and walks past Sam, patting the young man on the shoulder as he moves to get his own beer. The man gets it open and takes a sip before he answers the younger Winchester.

"You're underestimating your brother, Sam. He took care of you, or did you forget that?" he asks, watching Sam duck his head a bit and look away. "Don't worry so much. Dean can take care of a kid. I doubt that angel friend of yours would give her to ya if she didn't think you two could keep her safe."

Sam sighs and glances back toward the stairs, hoping that Bobby is right.

**-Hey Jude-**

Upstairs Dean gets the girl to brush her teeth and lets her put on her pajamas (They are Batman ones because Dean doesn't care if they are really boy's pajamas. Batman is awesome and the girl seemed to like them too so why not?). Once she's all ready for bed he takes her to the bedroom that he and Sam would normally try to share and picks her up, plopping her down on the bed that is surprisingly free of dust, considering the rest of the house.

The cow from the car is pulled from her duffle and she took it eagerly, allowing Dean to tuck her into the bed. For a little bit he just sat there, smiling at her and she smiled back.

"You know if you need me or Sam we'll be down stairs…" he finally says, leaning forward to kiss the girl on the forehead. "Goodnight," he softly murmurs, getting up to leave.

He stops when a small hand grabs his, though. "I'm Tabris," a tiny voice says and Dean turns his head to look at the girl, a bit surprised that she has decided to speak. "Goodnight, Dean," she says, letting him go and then curling up in a ball under the blankets, her arms wrapped tightly around her cow.

"Goodnight, Tabris," Dean whispers, smiling brightly.

He checks to make sure the windows are salted and the door is left open a crack when he leaves the room, heading back down stairs with that same silly smile plastered on his face. The young man moves back into the kitchen and hops up on the counter, picking up his beer and taking another pull from the bottle.

"Her name is Tabris."

"Huh?" Sam asks, watching his brother in slight confusion.

"She told me her name is Tabris," Dean repeats, his face screwing up a little bit. "It's kinda weird. I would've named her Lucy…" The man quickly finishes his beer then hops off the counter and smiles. "Well… I'm going to sleep. Tabby is in the bed upstairs so… I call the couch!" Dean says, darting into the living room, though he is quickly followed by Sam.

"Hey! No fair! Why do you always get the couch?" Sam complains, not wanting to sleep in the armchair.

While the boys are wrestling to see who gets the couch Bobby frowns, staring into space as he tries to place where he's heard that little girl's name before.

**-Marigold-**

A/n: Songs used for line breaks are as follows: Sugar, by The Wooden Birds. Son of a Preacher Man, by Janis Joplin. Hey Jude, by The Beatles. Marigold, by Nirvana.


	3. Chapter 3

A/n: Again... I really have nothing to and just felt like I needed the Author's Note. .

**-Ramble on Rose-**

In the morning Dean is the first to wake up and he smiles tiredly when he looks down and sees Tabris sleeping on top of him. The girl is straddling his stomach and lying on his chest, looking a bit like a tree frog clinging to a tree. A tree frog clinging to a tree and holding a cow by the tail at the same time. The hunter smiles softly and rubs a hand up and down her back, making no move to get up. He is quite content where he is, thank you very much.

Sam is the next to wake up some time later and he glances over to his brother, eyes going wide when he sees the little girl sleeping on his chest. She makes a soft little noise and starts to shift on the older man's chest. Dean springs into action, rubbing a hand over her back and humming softly until she relaxes again and starts to sleep.

"When did she come down here?" Sam finally asks, his voice quiet as he gets up off the arm chair and comes to stand beside his brother's head. Dean looks up at him and smiles.

"Sometime around one in the morning," he answers softly, rubbing his hand in circles on the girl's small back. "She's a lot like you. When you were her age… If you started whimpering or moving around in your sleep you'd calm down if I rubbed your back."

Dean smiles softly at the memory and Sam cocks his head to the side, watching the two on the couch. He kind of likes seeing his brother like this, so at ease and happy. Sam wonders if Dean would be doing this with his own children by now if they had been able to live a normal life.

The man on the couch hums quietly, pressing his lips against the top of the girl's head while he runs his hand over her back. Feeling awkward, Sam backs away and heads into the kitchen, only slightly surprised when he sees Bobby sitting at his kitchen tables books spread out everywhere. The younger man starts poking through the cabinets looking for coffee and pouts a bit when he doesn't find any.

"Hey Bobby, where's the-"

"There ain't no more coffee, Sam. Drank it last night."

Bobby doesn't even look up from his book as he answers Sam's unfinished question, making him pout a little bit. With a shrug the young man moves to sit down across from Bobby, picking up one of his books.

"What is all this about?" he asks, wrinkling his nose as he scans the title, a language he can't read.

"Angel lore. After Cas showed up I started looking into it." He flips a page and grunts quietly at what he finds on the page.

"Why're you looking into angel lore now?" Sam isn't ever against research. He just thought they knew all they needed to know about the angels.

"The name Tabris sounded familiar so I started looking into it. I thought I had seen it in one of these books and I was right."

Sam's brows perk and he leans over the table to look at the book that Bobby is turning toward him. He scans the page until he comes across the name Tabris, his eyes widening.

'…_Tabris, the angel of free will…'_

"You don't think… She's just a kid!"

Bobby just shrugs and puts down his book, leaning back as he looks at Sam with his arms crossed over his chest.

"With everything you see doing what we do I would think you'd be a little more open minded, Sam," the older man says, getting up and moving toward the kitchen door to peek into the living room where Dean is still laying with the small child on his chest.

"But she isn't like the others… She seems so much more human…" The young hunter wrinkles his nose in confusion and looks up at Bobby who shrugs.

"According to that book she's a different kind of angel. More approachable than the ones from Heaven you've been encountering." The older man comes into the kitchen again and looks down at the book flipping through a few more pages before stopping on one and passing it to Sam.

There is an image on the page that Bobby stopped on. It depicts seventeen angels. Fifteen of them have three sets of wings. One of the angels with his or her back facing outward shows that the largest set comes from the top portion of her back near her shoulder blades. The next set is slightly smaller and they sprout from the middle of their back. The last, the smallest come from the small of the angel's back. There are two angels in particular who have no wings but seem to tower over the others and they are all hovering over what looks like a mass of people.

"According to the book, there, Lilith used to be an angel," Sam went wide eyed and looked up at Bobby.

"What? But she was… She set hell hounds on Dean!" the young man exclaims angrily, slamming the book down on the table and making a half filled cup of coffee jump, its condense sloshing up against the sides of the cup.

"Well it says in there she used to be an angel. So was Adam," he taps one of the wingless, towering angels, "They were supposed to be husband and wife but Lilith didn't go along with that plan and instead made a set of angels called the Lilim from her womb." He indicates the mass of people that the angles are hovering over as the Lilim. "After that Adam created these fifteen angels here to take care of them."

Sam wrinkles his nose and stares down at the picture.

"If she used to be an angel how did she get to be a demon and if that little girl is an angel then why does Cas think that she needs our help?"

Bobby only shrugs. "Dunno. I've told you all I know."

Sam opens his mouth to say something but goes silent when Dean walks into the room, sans a tiny angel. He doesn't say anything about what he's just learned. Somehow he thinks that if Dean knew that the little girl he's gotten so attached to is an angel it will make him sad. He likes to see his smiling and happy like this. Sam and Bobby share a look as Dean leans into the fridge, foraging for food. When he comes back out he pouts and looks at Sam.

"Hey… Sammy, you want to get us some food?" he looks around the kitchen and frowns at the empty coffee pot. "And coffee?"

Sam just smiles some and cocks his head to the side. "Yeah, I can do that, Dean," he says softly, getting up to leave.

As he passes Bobby he sends the man a pleading look, not wanting Dean to figure out about the little girl, at least not yet. Dean seems to like looking after her. Bobby scowls, obviously thinking that Dean should know. He reluctantly nods to Sam and the younger man smiles. Before he can leave the kitchen, though, his path is blocked by tiny Tabris. She's got the Cow's head tucked up under her chin, hugging the toy tightly. It looks like a bird made a nest in her hair in the night and her eyes are half lidded.

"Morning," she says quietly, tilting her head up to smile at Sam.

Sam smiles back and watches as the girl shuffles up to Dean and reaches up to him. His brother swoops down to pick her up without any other prompting.

"Good morning, Darlin'" he says, making the girl giggle.

Sam leaves then, unable to shake the look in the girl's eyes when she smiled up at him. He feels like she knows that he knows what she is.

**-It's Been Raining-**

When Sam gets back Tabris is dressed and Dean is sitting behind her on the couch… braiding her hair. He looks up and sees Sam then points at him threateningly with a hair brush.

"You say a word and I will kick your ass," he states. The girl giggles quietly at this and bites her lip.

Sam's mouth snaps closed with a click of teeth and he just laughs quietly and leaves goes to the kitchen with his styrofoam boxes and cups of coffee. There's one cup of orange juice for Tabris. Dean comes in moments later, holding the girl on his hip. Sam can't help but smile some.

"You know I think she can walk, Dean…" he points out, Dean just shrugs and puts the girl down in a chair. Lifting up the first box in the stack he peeks in side then grins because he sees hash browns, sausages, and pancakes.

"So… Do either of you boys who what you are protecting her from?" Bobby asks as Dean goes through the boxes, eventually settling on a box of waffles for Tabris and the first box for himself. Bobby picks up his own, not caring all that much about what is in it. Dean just shrugs, cutting up Tabris' waffles for her before he moves over to his own box.

"Nah. He didn't really say, just asked us to keep her safe. I figure if anything comes for her we can put her in the panic room," he says, smiling at the older hunter and popping a sausage into his mouth while keeping one eye on Tabris.

Sam just leans up in the corner with his box and the plastic fork that came with it.

"Maybe we should try asking her?" the youngest man suggests, looking at the girl as she chows down on her waffle. Sam snorts quietly because her eating habits seem to be about as bad as Dean's .

Every eye in the room turns to her expectantly and she pauses with a square of waffle midway to her mouth. She looks around at everyone and puts her fork down. Dean takes the opportunity to wipe her now syrupy mouth with a napkin.

"Do you know what Cas wants us to keep you safe from?" he asks, cocking his head to the side.

She sighs softly and leans back in the chair. Her eyes look older that the eight years old that her body seems to be. Eventually, after e moment of silence, she crosses her arms over her chest and looks up at the ceiling with a little scowl.

"Everything… But I wouldn't need protection of it wasn't for those two," she said, pouting some, and looking down at her lap. Sam wonders what she's thinking about.

**-Because-**

Later that day, as the sun is going down, Dean and Tabris are sitting on the porch. She is snuggled up to the man's side and he's slowly drinking a beer. All that day they have been playing games like Hide and Seek and watching tv. They were even able to get Sam to play some. The little girl nearly gave Dean a heart attack when she hid in the trunk of an old car and Dean couldn't find her, though.

Now they are just sitting outside together, quiet while they watch the stars slowly coming out. Dean smiles softly and a bit sadly his eyes half lidded as he stares up at the sky.

"You aren't just some little girl, are you?" he asks softly, looking down at the wood between his feet.

Tabris hangs her head and sadly shakes her head. She doesn't like the sadness that is coming off of Dean at the thought that she isn't human. She wonders if he knows the vibes he is giving off.

"No," she finally says, looking up at Dean. He looks down at her and sighs, putting down his half empty bottle.

"What are you?" he asks, leaning back and looking down at her. She smiles softly.

"An angel," she answers quietly. Dean snorts and cocks his head to the side.

"What with like… tiny wings and stuff?" he asks, leaning back so that he can look at her back as if he expects there to be little feathery appendages poking out from the back of her pink shirt.

She giggles quietly and nods, then stands up and moves to stand between Dean's legs. She stares at him for a moment then leans in and wraps her arms around his neck. He is slightly startled at first but gently hugs her back, eyes closing as he presses his face against her small shoulder.

"You know even though I'm an angel I still need you to take care of me," she says quietly, running her small fingers through the older man's hair. "I am, at the moment, very, very weak. That's why Cas gave me to you… Even angels need to be taken care of sometimes… We can't handle everything by ourselves, especially us tiny ones."

Dean smiles like that and leans back, to kiss the top of the girl's nose, making her laugh.

**-Bowl of Oranges-**

The next morning Sam wakes up first again and again, Tabris is curled up on his brother. Only this time she's sitting in his lap and reclining on his chest since Dean got the chair last night instead of the couch. After Dean and Tabris came inside last night there came to pass, the inevitable confrontation between Sam and Dean and the fight about hiding things from one another.

Sam lets out a quiet sigh at the memory and reaches up to run a hand over his face as he sits up, looking at his brother again. Dean is awake too by now, sending Sam a little smile as he pets the little girl's hair, his eyes half lidded.

"You know she's an angel, right? She's way older than she looks and she's probably stronger than either of us…" Sam says quietly, still watching.

Dean just shrugs and rests his head against Tabris'

"Everyone needs help sometimes, Sammy… Even tiny angels."

-**Your Song-**

A/n: Songs used as line breaks are as follows: Ramble on Rose, by The Grateful Dead. It's Been Raining, by Kimya Dawson. Because, by The Beatles. Bowl of Oranges, by Bright Eyes. Your song, by Elton John.


	4. Chapter 4

A/n: This chapter... is less cute. . You can't have one of my stories without there being a showdown in Bobby's yard, apparently. So warning, a bit less cuteness in this one.

**-Sweet Dreams-**

Dean has discovered that Tabris has some strange love for apples. He is sitting outside with her again, only this time it is the middle of the day and he is tuning up the Impala and occasionally staring with trepidation at the ridiculous pile of apple cores building up beside the empty industrial spool, once used for cable or wire. Tabris is just sitting, smiling and eating another apple out of the bag of them that he bought for her. Secretly he is wondering if she's high because this is starting to look a lot like the time in one of his numerous high schools, where they all actually stayed put for a little while and he got to stay at someone's house one night and watch them eat two boxes of Lucky charms and half of a large pizza with extra cheese.

That is minus the blank stare because Tabris seems very aware of everything going on and even giggles a bit every time Dean looks at her with suspicion.

"I can still hear your thoughts, Dean. I might be a weak angel at the moment, but an angel none the less," she finally says, getting off her spool and coming to stand by the older man. She gets up on her tip toes to look under the hood of the Impala and dean can't help but smile.

"So does that mean you're not high?" he asks, wiping his hands off on a greasy rag that really doesn't seem to do much to help in the cleansing of his fingers. Tabris just giggles quietly and shakes her head.

"No I am not. It has been a while since I've gotten high," she says and Dean bites back the urge to reprimand her because she is still tiny and cute and he can't picture her doing any sort of drugs.

She looks up at him and smiles softly.

"This isn't how I always look," she calmly stated, looking down at herself with a pout. "Normally I'm a good bit bigger…"

Dean cocks his head to the side. If he is honest he has been curious about her predicament for a while now and it seems like this could be a good time to ask. He reaches down and picks the girl up, settling her on his hip before he goes back over to the spool and makes himself comfortable with her in his lap. She's wearing a tiny pair of over-alls and a black shirt so he isn't too worried about grease stains on her clothes, she doesn't seem concerned either.

"So why are you suddenly tiny?" he asks quietly, letting his chin rest on her head while plays with a new apple.

"Well… The angels of Heaven are not fond of me or my kind. You see, Dean. The bible does not quite describe the creating of Earth and mankind accurately. You were told about the Adam, Lilith, the Lilim, and myself by Bobby and Sam last night, remember?" Dean nods his head and the girl nods hers in return, letting out a sigh as she leans back on the man's chest.

"Well we served the Lilim, under God's orders, and the rest of the angels were there strictly for God's use. The lot of us didn't really interact with the God's angels. Anyway, when the wars in heaven started Adam, Lilith, myself, and the other angels made to look after the Lilim refused to fight with Michael. When Lucifer was cast out of Heaven and God disappeared, sadden by the loss of his son, Michel tried to rally the angels and get some sort of order. Lilith was the first to refuse to follow him and she gave up her grace and went to live on Earth. She always did have a flair for the dramatic… Giving up her grace really wasn't necessary. Anyway, in a fit of anger because of her refusal Michael cast out the Lilim, they fell to Earth and lost their grace, becoming humans. After that Adam refused and allowed himself to be thrown into the ocean by Michael. After that I and the other fifteen refused him and left on our own to find Adam and to take care of the Lilim."

She twists the stem off the top of her apple and flicks it away.

"So… What does that have to do with Cas wanting to keep you safe?" he asks, a bit confused about how Cas factors into all of this. Tabris smiles softly and leans up, kissing Dean's cheek.

"Well Castiel loves you," Dean's cheeks heat at that and he screws up his face in confusion but he doesn't get a chance to ask anything else. "Because of you, Sam, and Bobby, he has found a great fondness for humans and he doesn't wish for this world to be destroyed. Neither does Gabriel. The angels of Heaven and the ones looking after Earth mostly ignore each other. However the ones up there have never been too fond of me and my kind and their dislike for me has grown very rapidly since the start of the apocalypse," she states, and Dean hugs her a bit more tightly. He hasn't known her long but He doesn't like the thought of anything wanting to hurt the little girl.

"But… why? What have you ever done to them to make them hate you so much if you've just ignored each other for so long?" Dean asks softly.

The young girl smiles and she shrugs.

"I've been very actively stopping the apocalypse. This Earth and the people on it mean very much to me. It is my duty to keep them alive and safe that means the apocalypse falls under my jurisdiction," she said, giggling softly and taking a bite of her apple.

Dean stares down at her for a moment, wide eyed and gaping like a fish.

"How are you keeping the apocalypse from happening?" he squeaks in surprise.

"Well… Michael and Lucifer can't have their big, bad, winner takes all throw down if they don't have their vessels, can they? I am the angel of Free Will, Dean. If you and Sam didn't have Free will do you really think that you could say no to Lucifer and Michael?" she asks, her voice soft.

Dean just stares for a moment then slowly shakes his head. Tabris nods and nibbles around the edge of her first bite mark on the apple.

"Exactly. I give humans free will. If Michael and his angels or Lucifer and his Demons were to let's say, kill me… well then they could just easily bend you and Dean over and you'd be their bitches, " she says calmly and dean can't help but laugh simply because even though the idea of her getting killed his horrible the fact that such a little girl just said what she did makes him smile.

"If could I have a kid I wish she or he would be like you," he teased, tickling her sides a little and making the girl squeal.

After that they sit in silence for a moment, sobering up to the situation that Tabris is in.

"I'm actually a little surprised you still like me so much, Dean. I would think you would be quite angry, figuring out that there are fifteen angels who are meant to look after the Earth, that I am one of them, and such horrible things still happen in it," she says softly, looking down at her small hands.

Dean squeezes the girl and kisses the side of her head.

"Well there are only fifteen of you… and there are millions of people in the world. I guess even angels can't do everything, right? Besides, you're cute and you're keeping me and Sam from being used as meat suits for Lucifer and Michael so I think I can forgive you… Speaking of your size you said you were bigger, how did you get so small?"

Tabris sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, shaking her head as she does so. The action is adorable for someone her age. Or Dean thinks so anyway and he can't help but smile. The girl huffs and glares over her shoulder.

"I know you're grinning at me and think I'm cute… Stop it," she demands, only getting a bigger grin from the man. With a sigh she just flumps against his chest and pouts, earning herself a chuckle, "You're lucky I like you, she said, with a tiny glare. Anyway, I got this tiny because I got caught by some of Michael's little angel friends." She frowns and looks away, her small body tense. "I am a powerful angel, Dean. It took a lot to take my down and by the time they finally caught me I was weak from fending off so many of them. They basically took me off to be tortured until I either died or agreed to take away yours and Sam's free will. Before either happened Cas created a distraction and Gabriel set me free then turned me into a little kid because they hoped it would make me harder to find. Then Castiel brought me to you. I'm still not quite strong enough to throw off the changes that Gabriel made to my body but once I get my strength back I am going to go help Cas. Now he has a bunch of angels on his ass because they know that he helped set me free," she said softly, seeming sad as she stared down at her apple. It was starting to turn brown, the way apples do.

Dean frowns and gives the girl a squeeze. He can feel guilt and shame over her capture rolling off of her. He is also worried about his other angel friend. The man isn't disillusioned into thinking that Cas is invincible. The hunter knows that there are more powerful angels out there that could hurt or kill his friend. Silently he prays that Castiel is alright.

A tiny hand rests on his arm and he looks down at Tabris who smiles up at him softly.

"He can hear you… and I'm sure it makes him happy to know you care about him so much," she murmurs and Dean wraps her up in a fierce but caring hug.

**-Raindrops Prelude-**

Later that night Sam, Dean, Bobby, and Tabris are outside, sitting on the porch while Dean man's the grill. The sun is setting and Tabris is between Bobby and Sam, talking about the differences between her angels and the angels of Heaven. Dean almost feels like they live a normal life at this very moment, if he tunes out the conversation about how the angels looking after Earth are more human in the way they act. Dean is happy, Sam is happy, Bobby is happy, and Tabris is happy. Dean loves it.

However, when there is a quiet rustle of displaced air, the fun, happy atmosphere seems to vanish. Everyone turns their heads and only feet away there are three angels. Two are wearing black suits, looking imposing and emotionless as any other angel that they have come across thus far.

One is a man, his dirty blond hair cut short and dark, almost black eyes glaring. The other is a woman with a thin face and her hair pulled back into a tight, high ponytail. There is another in a familiar tan trench coat, kneeling between them. The male of the black suit duo has he hand firmly planted on Castiel's back and the woman's lips twitch into a shadow of a smirk when she sees the angry and worried faces of the men before her.

"Give us the girl-"

"No way in fucking hell!" Of course Dean has to cut the woman off.

The man with his hand on Cas' back seemed to curl his fingers around something and give a sharp tug, making the smaller angel cry out in pain. Dean looks torn between lunging at the man hurting his angel friend and punching him in the face until he's knocked all the man's teeth down his throat… or kneeling before Cas and offering him comfort.

"As I was saying," the woman continues, " Give us the girl or we rip his wings off," she states calmly.

"Don't, Dean!" Cas calls out, looking desperately at the hunter.

Said hunter clenches his jaw and his fists and feels torn, wanting to save his friend but not wanting to betray him or hurt the girl he's come to care for. Either way he doesn't get the chance to choose because Tabris stands from her seat on the porch and marches forward, head held high and proud, despite her small form. The female angel lets out a little humming noise that seems like it is almost supposed to be a laugh.

"And so the mighty have fallen. The angel of free will has been turned into nothing but a child," the woman sneers and Tabris says nothing. The girl just smiles widely and tilts her head to the side.

When she does that the small girl's body seems to glow for a moment and then it starts to grow. The clothes she was wearing tear and fall from her body and from her back six wings stretch and then fold against her back. In a matter of seconds the angel has transformed from a little girl… to a wounded woman who looks as though she is about to fall apart once the light fades and she can be seen clearly again.

However, despite her nudity and the fact that she looks as though she will fall apart at any moment, considering the way she is shaking, Tabris gives off the feeling of a righteous, avenging angel. Her wings stretch out behind her and dean can see that the tawny brown appendages have been torn to shreds. All along her massive wing span there are clumps of feathers missing and blood that is slowly starting to ooze through them and drip on the ground. And on her body there are bruises in various stages of healing, burns, cuts that bite deep into her flesh and even welts from a whip.

If this is what she looks like after having time to heal Dean can only imagine the bloody, mangled mess she was before. She is breathing heavily as she extends a shaking hand, keeping it parallel to the ground. The blood dripping from her wings and the wounds on her body flows across the ground and pools under her hand. Then a pinprick of light shines in its center and from it a two pronged lance is lifted.

The female angel sniffs and glares hard at Tabris.

"What are you going to do with that? You can barely hold yourself up," she says coldly and the man twists his hand, pulling on Castiel's invisible wing once more.

Tabris smiles, a little blood drips from the corner of her mouth as she draws in a rattling breath.

"That's what it is here for," she said softly, shakily lifting the lance then slamming it down against the ground. A shockwave seems to come from it, like a ripple after a rock hits the water.

Everything is silent and it seems as though nothing has happened until Sam pipes up.

"What is that?"

Everyone looks to where he is pointing and all Dean can make out is a vaguely humanoid shape, with glowing, pink eyes and wings that are stretched out and arched back like an angry parrot's. Slowly Dean looks around and he's noticing that there are more of them. Some are at the tops of stacks of cars in the salvage yard; some are on top of Bobby's house.

Bobby count's fourteen in all and for the first time the two angels with Cas look frightened.

The man holding onto Castiel's wings loosens his grip and Tabris hisses.

"Kill them."

With those two words thirteen of the creatures fall upon the other two angles before they can even think of moving. The fourteenth drags Castiel out of the fray before joining in. The 'creatures' turn out to be angels like Tabris, though now they look like animals, vultures tearing apart a bloated, dead deer. Sam and Bobby look away. Hearing the screams of the angels being torn apart his bad enough without having to watch.

The lance that Tabris is so desperately clinging to keep herself upright melted back into her pool of blood and she collapsed, though she didn't hit the ground, being caught by Dean who rushed over as soon as she started to go down. He watches her breathing raggedly and she just looks up at him and smiles, her head tilting to the side.

"I told you I was bigger," she says softly, turning her head to kiss Dean's shoulder as he holds her up in his lap.

Even though she's no longer a small child she still doesn't look to be older than eighteen at the most. Her eyes close and her head lolls back and Dean panics. His eyes go wide and he shakes her a little.

"Tabris?" he calls as he shakes her limp body yet again.

The call of the other angel's name seems to break up the gore-fest because suddenly everything is silent. Then all of the other fourteen angels start to move again. Blood and mangled body parts are magically removed from sight and then Dean finds himself surrounded by winged men and women. One of them, a tall, dark skinned man kneels before him. Their eyes lock and stare at each other for a moment, Dean's green eyes boring into the angel's. Reluctantly the hunter gives the young woman to the other angel who gives him a silent smile.

The other angels converge upon Tabris and the man holding her, slowly forcing Dean out, much to his chagrin. Gradually they start to glow, and dean frowns, lifting a hand to shade his eyes when it gets to be too bright.

The group of angels just looks like a writhing mass of light now and Dean slowly backs away from it, moving to kneel by Castiel. He gently pulls his friend up into a sitting position and cocks his head to the side.

"Cas, you alright?"

"I am fine, Dean. Is Tabris still living?" he asks and Dean smiles some, happy that his friend is okay.

"I don't know. The other angels took her," Dean answered softly.

The angels behind him suddenly stop glowing and separate from each other. The tall, dark skinned man who took Tabris from Dean stands in the middle of the loose circle of angels stands, helping Tabris up as well. She is now clad in a white dress like the one that she was wrapped in when Castiel gave her to the Winchester brothers. The young woman smiles brightly. Now healed and also still the shortest person present.

Dean stifles a laugh at that and just smiles as she comes closer and drops down on Castiel's other side. She leans down and kisses his forehead and the angel's injuries just disappear, leaving Dean feeling awkward as he holds onto his friend as he is. Tabris just giggles and lightly kisses Dean's cheek.

"Everything's okay now," she murmurs.

"Well…" Bobby says, getting up and off the stair he is sitting on. "We're going to need more food to feed this many people," he said, heading toward his old truck, all the while muttering about damn angles dropping in unannounced.

**-Angel Eyes-**

A/n: Songs used as line breaks are as follows: Sweet Drams, by Eurythmics. Raindrops Prelude, by Frederic Chopin. Angel eyes, by ABBA.


	5. Chapter 5

A/n: And we are back to the cute!

**-June on the West Coast-**

It is late by the time everyone gets fed and Dean is sitting back and watching the angels with Sam and Bobby. All fifteen of them are just lounging together in a mass of bodies and wings. Tabris is laying half on top of Sandalphon, the tall black man who had taken her before, and she has her legs draped over Castiel's. Dean thinks that is to keep the somewhat flustered looking angel from flying off.

Dean's eyes roam over Tabris' wings, full and fluffy with feathers now instead of falling apart as they were before. They are mainly a tawny brown with a few white feathers on the underside and dark brown on top. The sight of all the angels and their wings are somewhat underwhelming. None of them are white. A few are close, having gray or very light yellow ones. One angel had wings that were pitch black, another had red ones like a cardinal. Sandalphon's reminded Dean of a wren. There was even one person with wings that were a deep purple color.

"They remind me of birds," says Sam, his head cocking to the side as he watches all of them, huddled together. Dean snorts quietly.

"They remind me of a litter of puppies with how they're all cuddled up together…" he laughs and nods at Castiel. "Poor Cas looks so uncomfortable down there in that orgy."

Sam smiles and shakes his head, watching as Tabris crawls over to a plump motherly woman with pale yellow wings and starts to talk to her. Cas doesn't get a chance to escape, though, because another angel takes the girl's place. He has white, black and yellow feathers and laughs at Cas when he glares at him.

"That one is Israfel," Sam says, pointing at the one now keeping Castiel in place. "The one that Tabris is talking to is Armisael. She is the angel of the womb," Sam points out and perks a brow.

"Dude… When did you have time to go around learning all their names? And what is Israfel the angel of?" he asks, blinking a couple times.

Sam blushes and shrugs a shoulder. "I didn't… But that book bobby has about them as some pretty accurate descriptions of their wings… And Israfel is the angel of music, dance, and poetry."

Dean laughs and shakes his head, looking back out at the angels his head cocking to the side. With a smirk he points out an angel with dark blue wings. The white tips on his feathers making them look like the night sky.

"What about that one?" Dean asks.

"Leliel, angel of night," Sam replies, with a sigh, feeling like this was going to turn into a long night of naming angels and what they do.

"What is Sandalphon the angel of?" Dean eagerly questions, practically bouncing up and down.

"He is the angel of embryos and supposedly he takes messages to God."

Dean wrinkles his nose a bit and at that. "Well maybe he knows where God ran off to, then…"

Sam just shrugs and watches as Tabris breaks free from the crowd and bounds up to the two of them. She takes one of their hands in each of hers and gives a gentle pull.

"Come on. I want you to come and meet the rest of my brothers and sisters," she says, leading the boys down to the other angels.

None of them get up to greet them but a few send smiles and nods of acknowledgement. Tabris pulled them down to sit on top of an old car's hood with Armisael who giggled and lightly touched Dean's shoulder.

"It is so nice to meet the men who have been taking care of our little Tabris," Amisael chortles , smiling brightly at the two men. Sam smiled shyly and ducks his head.

"It was more Dean than me… " Sam says shyly, reaching up so that he could rub the back of his head.

"Hey, You liked taking care of me when I was a little kid, right Dean?" she asks, batting her eyes at the man.

Dean shrugs and blinks a couple times. "Yeah… Why?"

Tabris doesn't answer but just changes into a little girl again and Dean snorts, smiling as he shrugs off the red, flannel button up he is wearing over his t-shirt, then drapes it over her shoulders and does up the buttons. Then he picks her up and places her on his lap.

"Any particular reason why your clothes never change with you?" he teases. She just shrugs and snuggles into the man holding her as one, by one all the other angles shrink as well.

Castiel grunts as five of the winged children with too-big shirts on wander over to him and then latch on with giggles and smiles. Five more make their move and crawl onto Sam while four more latch onto Dean. The brothers look down at the children with wide eyes.

"Wh… what is all this?" Sam asks, earning giggles from the children clinging to his legs and crawling into his lap.

"Just consider it a training exercise…" Tabris responds, grinning.

"A training exercise for what?" asks Dean, reaching down to help a young boy up onto the hood of the car with him.

"Hmm… You'll see. We have plans for you, Dean," Israfel says, snuggling up to Sam's side and giggling as he stretched out his tiny wings.

Sam frowns, picking up one of the children and holding him so that her back is facing him. "Why do your wings deny the laws of physics?" he asks, trying to figure out how the angels got the wings through their shirts as they did.

Dean just looks at his brother in disbelief eyes wide. "What are you worrying about physics for? They are angels! They don't adhere to Earthly laws! Why aren't you more worried about what they have planned for me and why it involves a horde of baby angels?"

**-Welcome Home-**

That night, instead of Sam and Dean sleeping downstairs they are upstairs in bed, surrounded by small children. Cas is there too, laying between the brothers while everyone is all piled together like a litter of puppies again.

Dean can feel the heat of a small angel curled up against his back and another resting their head on one of his knees. There's two between him and Cas, one clinging to the front of his shirt and burying their face in his stomach, and another doing the same to Castiel. Sam is sleeping sitting at the head of the bed, with his head lolling back against the wall, two children in his lap and a book between them. Dean is still trying to figure out how they fit three adults and fifteen children into the bed. Somehow they've managed, though that's only because everyone is lying on top of each other, using one another as blankets and pillows. He wonders if this is how these angels act on a regular basis.

He turns his head, looking at Cas who is lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, there's a little girl laying on top of him, her head pillowed on his chest and Dean can see another small head of red hair laying on the man's hip.

"What is it, Dean?" Castiel asks after a moment, turning his head to look at the hunter who blushes a bit in the dark because he got caught staring.

"Nothing… I was just wondering if this is how these angels act all the time. So warm and comfortable with each other and all," he says quietly. When the angel turns his head to look at Dean the man suddenly realizes how close he is to the heavenly being.

"I do not know. I think so, though. Tabris… I met her once in Heaven. She was small like she is now," he nods to the girl who is sleeping down beside one of his legs. "She has always seemed to be a very loving individual. But, as I believe you would say, she is not someone to be fucked with."

Dean chuckles quietly and smiles at the angel.

"If Sam was awake right now he'd accuse me of corrupting you or something because you're using language like that," he says going quiet for a moment more and looking down at Tabris. "How come when she was little she didn't have any of the wounds that she did when she took her original form again? Why was she so weak then but not as a child?" he murmurs softly, biting his lip.

Castiel watches Dean and blinks a couple times.

"Gabriel didn't have time to heal her, just hide what had happened when he changed her to a child. Her grace was healing her while she was with you and from what Sam has told me she didn't exactly have to exert herself while in your care."

When Dean ducks his head and blushes a little at the memories of carrying Tabris around and doing everything for her Castiel lets a small but fond smile grace his face.

"I guess she didn't, did she? I kind of did everything for her." He is quiet for a moment, then bites his lip and looks down at the child pressing their face into his stomach. With a soft smile he lightly runa his fingers through their short hair.

"You'll be a good father, Dean," Castiel says softly, watching the hunter's interaction with the child. The man just snorts at Cas and glances at the angel a little sadly.

"I'm not going to be a father Cas… I couldn't rais a kid like my dad raised Sam and me. I couldn't bring a wife into that…" he says, voice quiet and eye closing as he hides half his face in his pillow.

The angel frowns, reaching out to touch Dean's cheek. The touch seems to startle the other man because he jumps slightly and lifts his head to look at Castiel again. Once he has Dean's attention the blue eyed man smile very gently, never one to show huge amounts of emotion.

"You aren't John Winchester. You are Dean and that is who you would be like. You would raise your children the way you felt was best, not your father." When Dean says nothing he lets his hand slide away from Dean's cheek and motions to Tabris.

"She said you loved me, once. I assumed that she just meant you loved me like you love all humans but I don't know there was just something about how she said it…" he says in a quiet uncertain voice. He can feel his heart in his throat and he feels somewhat terrified of what Castiel's answer to his statement would be.

Castiel just stares at Dean for a moment and blinks then he leans forward, careful of the children between them and kisses the hunter very softly on the lips. The angel isn't the best with showing emotion like a human but he has figured out at least a few ways that humans show their affection toward one another. Kisses are one of the ones he's figured out.

"I am still unsure about these human emotions that I have found myself experiencing. But I do know that I care very much for you, Dean. I don't like seeing you upset or hurt," he says softly.

Dean just smiles and turns his head to nuzzle the angel's hand a little.

"I'm glad… But I have one more question. Why did you bring Tabris to us instead of one of the other angels?" he asks softly, letting go of Castiel's arm so he could retract his hand.

"I did not know where to find them and I trusted you would keep her safe," he replies slowly pulling his hand away from Dean's face. "You should sleep, Dean," he says after a moment, watching the other man yawn.

Dean snorts but closes his eyes and nuzzles down into his pillow. "You're just trying to get rid of me…" he mutters, staying silent for a moment. "Wait! One more question… I promise I'm done then… Why couldn't we see your wings when that other angel was trying to rip them off of you?" he asks.

Castiel lightly runs his fingers over the soft feathers of one of the angels lying next to him. "Humans can't look upon a heavenly angel's true form or it will blind them. My wings are a part of my true from, not my vessel's body," he says gently, shrugging a shoulder.

Dean slowly nods and cocks his head to the side. He reaches out lightly run his fingers over the same wing that the other man is stroking. He squirms a little and then he pipes up with another question.

"What do your wings look like?" Castiel smiles some at Dean's question, the hunter sounding like a curious child.

"Blue, mostly, and black, and white. They are very much like a blue-jay's…" he says quietly while Dean looks him over, trying to imagine the angel with his wings.

"Do you-"

"Dean if you ask one more question I will kill you," Sam says from the other side of the bed. "Now go to sleep or I will wake up all of these kids, give them candy, and then let you try to put them back to bed!"

Dean snapped his mouth shut with a click of teeth and ducked his head, deciding that maybe it was time to sleep and stop bothering Sammy. Castiel couldn't help but smile just slightly at the two.

**-Mother-**

A/n: Songs used as line breaks are as follows: June on the West Coast, by Bight Eyes. Welcome Home, by Rehab. Mother, by Pink Floyd.


	6. Chapter 6

A/n: Last chapter. I told you that this would be a short story. .

**-Angel Like-**

Bobby Singer will never admit to being a sentimental man but he is and he cares a lot about Sam and Dean. So in the morning when everyone is still asleep he goes to the room where the boys and the angles are dozing. He smiles some when he sees them all piled together. Sam is lying down now, on his stomach with little children curling up against his sides and his legs, using him as a pillow, and there is one laying on his back with her face pressed into his shoulder.

Dean is curled up on his side, similar to the position from last night with an angel at his back, one curled up behind his knees, and one curled up against his stomach. Castiel is sitting between the boys, legs crossed with an angel in his lap and one on either side of him, resting their heads on his thighs. His hand is lightly combing through Dean's hair.

And he is the only one who sees Bobby pull out a camera and take a picture of all of them snuggled up together like this.

**-Don't Fear the Reaper-**

By that afternoon all of the angels are back to their normal size and are getting ready to leave. Dean feels his heart pull a little as he watches Tabris. The others had been cute in their little baby angel forms what with their tiny wings and little big-eyed, glowing faces, but Tabris is the one he is attached to.

So when most of the angels have left and she runs up to him and wraps her arms around his neck, giving him a warm, tight hug he hugs her back with no intention of letting go. She giggles and nuzzles her face into his neck then gets up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek because she, despite her claims of being much bigger than her child-form, is still short compared to Dean.

"Don't look so sad. I'll be back, we'll see each other again," she says, giving the man a warm squeeze. "This isn't good-bye. Good-byes are for people you'll never see again. This is just a see you later," she says softly.

With that she pulls away, leaning up to lightly kiss Dean's cheek again before she pulls back. Unlike the other angels she doesn't just disappear. That seems too final, too sudden of an ending. Instead she works her wings until she's in the air flying away.

On the ground Dean watches until he can't see her anymore and when a hand creeps into his and gives a warm squeeze he jumps in surprise. Cas is standing next to him, holding his hand, and that makes Dean blush a little.

"She'll be back, Dean," he says, looking at the hunter as the hunter watches the sky. "Until then you still have me," the angel offers, almost shyly.

Dean smiles and gently squeezes Castiel's hand. "I'm glad."

**-All You Need is Love-**

A/n: Songs used as line breaks are as follows: Angel like, by Boondox. Don't Fear the Reaper, by Blue Oyster Cult. All You Need is Love, by The Beatles.

Fin


End file.
